Hawaii Day 5 - Kona

Kona is on the western side of the big Island and there is a road cutting through the middle of the island from Hilo to Kona called the Saddle road. It's actuallly a nice big freeway but also a nice drive as you see the volcano scenery on either side of you.

It takes about 2 hours to drive it (depending on how fast you drive), and when we arrived at Kona it was a very different atmosphere to what I'd been used to in Hilo. Now THIS is a resort town! Fancy shops lining the beachfront streets, and just many more people around in beachy gear.

Dropped by the market but it was a bit of a tourist trap, nothing that I would recommend buying there. We had a submarine tour with Atlantis to get to so we headed up there, stopping to do one of those Pearl in an Oyster things, which yielded us 2 pearls.

The reef is quite good in Maui so there was a lot of fish, and we even saw a white tipped reef shark underneath a shipwreck. There was a skeleton tied to the shipwreck as a bit of a prank, which actually had an amusing story to it - it was put there as a halloween joke by some divers but they secured it with wire which rapidly rusted and broke, leaving the skeleton to wash up on the beach in Kona much to everyone's surprise that year. We even saw dolphins on the way out.

We went for lunch at Sushi Shiono's which was rather good, with quite fresh fish. We ordered the Shiono special, a chirashi sushi, some salmon avocado rolls for the kids, and uni (sea urchin) ships extra.

This made us late for our Big Island Bees tour, but we managed to arrive just in time to catch the end of it. I learned a lot about bees!

After that it was time to hit the road to go home - it was a long drive back in the dark on unfamiliar road (not to mention still getting used to this driving on the wrong side of the road business). It was our last day on the Big Island, and we had an early start the next morning!

Hawaii Day 4 - North west Big Island

We had a big day planned with a tight schedule! Our first stop was to be Umauma falls and the Zipline experience there, but we had some time to kill before that so we went off to look for Akama falls. Unfortunately, Google maps directed us to some private property with a clear "no trespassing" sign. So that idea was bust!

Heading back we noticed a different sign pointing us to the falls but we were out of time!

Umauma falls is on a private property that not only has the ziplines, but is a working fruit and cattle farm.

There were a total of 9 ziplines, the longest being over 600m! The first four were dual ziplines, where you could race together, and the remaining 5 were single ziplines.

The views were cool and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They were a bit lightweight and a number of times didn't make it to the end of the line and had to be "towed in" by one of the guys who had to climb out then run like a spider back to the end, towing our kid.

A cool suspension bridge that we had to hook onto (weird considering we have similar bridges back home that look way less safe and we don't hook onto those)  that went over the river and a lava tube.

It was a nice day out, hot but fun. It was easy too - we didn't have to do anything, just jump and zip! The guides did all the hooking on and putting on of our gear and made sure we made it safely across each zipline.

We had to rush off straight after to make it to our lunch booking, which was at Merrimans in Waimea. Merrimans restaurant was the first restaurant venture of chef Peter Merriman, who was known as the pioneer of regional Hawaiian cuisine, and using local produce to create great dishes.

Ahi Poke with Maui onion and Molokai sweet potato chips

Kalua Pig and sweet onion Quesadillas

Island Fish sandwich

Island Fish Tacos (Mahi Mahi)

Pork Saimon with Togorashi spice Noodles and Kauai prawns

Service was outstanding and the kids were made to feel welcome. We even got a free soup for having to wait a bit longer than usual (Brocollini and cheddar) which was quite nice.

After that a drive around the North West coast, where we went to Pololu valley where there was a beach at the end of a steep 10 minute climb.

There's a beach down there?

Oh THERE it is

This was the easy stretch!

On the drive back, you could see Haleakala on Maui from the north west section of the freeway!

Phew! That night we had a simple dinner of fast food (Maccas, I think!) where a different thing on the menu was Taro pie (instead of apple pie). I liked it but nobody else really did...

Hawaii Day 3 - Volcano National Park

Today was our day for exploring the Volcano National Park, and so we set off early (with iPads in tow for the drive) as we headed out to our first stop at Punaluu beach, another black sand beach. This beach was more popular (and more like a real beach) with a reasonable length beach of sand, and a lifeguard.

Sometimes you can see turtles on the beach and we were lucky to be able to see one in the water in the shallow rocky area. If you ask me it looked like it was having trouble getting out of the shallows to get back to the sea.

Next stop was a green sand beach at Papakolea beach. Like many of the cool beaches on the big Island it was a  bit of a hike to get to the beach - it's a 4km one way trip from the parking lot to the beach in the blistering sun with no shade! Fortunately there are some entrepreneurial fellows there who charge you $20 return on a 4wd ute (where you ride in the back or in the cab, Mexican style) to take you to the beach. The trip is rough and dusty - much like a ride at Disneyland! I would not recommend standing in the ute part if you're unsteady on your feet or have back pain.

It's well worth the trip. The sand is green due to olivine crystals from an eroded volcano cone that formed this beach. The sand is green mixed with black sand and white sand.

As you can see there are no lifeguards at this beach so swim at your own risk. The walk down is a little steep but you could make it in beach sandals, but probably not thongs.

By that time it was 1pm and it was getting really hot. We left there and headed to Punaluu Bake Shop which is quite popular for their sweet bread. We had lunch there, tried their portuguese donuts (which was like a jam donut with icing) and took a bag of guava sweet bread with us for nibbles on our road trip.

Now it was time to go to the Volcano National Park! It does have an entry fee of $25 per vehicle but for $30 you can buy a 3 park pass. We stopped by the steam vents - there wasn't much of a sulphur smell there...

We still had time to kill before sunset (where you could see the glow of the volcano) so we did the crater drive down to the sea to look at the Hosei arch and lava landscapes. The Thursten lava tube was good to walk through as well.

Even in the late afternoon you can see lava spitting up a little!

But by sunset, the volcano cone looked really impressive with it's red glow. The car park was very full too! I would recommend going there about 45 mins before sunset and just wandering around the Jagger museum waiting for sunset.

Gorgeous! Well that's the last lava I'll see for a long time.

Hawaii Day 1 and 2 - Looking for Lava

Our big holiday this year was Hawaii, as my son was really keen on volcanoes and with the world stage being a little bit scary in the European countries, we thought a USA holiday might be a safe one. And, Hawaii is only a 10 hour flight from Sydney.

There is a 4 hour time difference - ie in Sydney it's 7pm but in Hawaii it's 11pm (albeit it's 11pm the day before) so another one of those going back in time experiences - leaving Sydney at 430pm Saturday arvo and arriving in Honolulu at 530am Saturday morning. Our plan was to stay on three of the islands - big Island, Maui and Oahu - and we caught a connecting flight to Hilo airport on the Big Island.

We stayed at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, which is a nice comfortable hotel with car parking (as we decided to hire a car on each island). Of course, the bummy thing about a morning flight is that we can't check in for ages, so after we got our car we went to do a few small sightseeing things before we checked into our hotel.

We dropped by the Rainbow Falls (which had no rainbow since it was cloudy) and had lunch at Kuhio Grille, which served traditional Hawaiian fare as well as some a mix of other dishes. Their specialty is the one pound laulau, which is steamed meat in cabbage, cooked for ages till it's soft. It had a very home cooked feel to it and was quite satisfying! Also, Hawaiian fried rice which uses spam instead of ham or bacon, and the serves were so big we took some home and ate it for dinner. The kids were too tired to go out for dinner after check in and so that worked out well.

The next day we were up early and went to the Kaumana caves which were cool except we didn't have a torch, so we didn't go very far into the caves. The torch on the phone just doesn't cut it.

Met an Australian couple (from Sydney) there - there were heaps of Aussies around!

After that we headed out to the Maku'u Farmer's market and had a big brunch of chocolate banana crepes, takoyaki, poke bombs (which looked like raw seafood on salad in a beancurd cup), taro pearl tea and chocolate fish shaped waffles as well as a plate of noodles. Stuffed after that! Looked around the markets but didn't see much I wanted to buy, so we headed off to the Lava Tree state monuments.

Lava trees are formed when lava pours over existing trees and cools around them and then the inside tree gets burnt and you are left with the volcanic stone mould of the tree. There were a lot of those trees here, but of course there has been substantial recovery too.

We visited the Kapoho Tide Pools for a play in the water. Apparently they are warmed by some thermal vents, but I didn't notice any particularly warm spots. Lots of reef fish and
Next we went to see some of the Black Sand beaches. We visited two of the less frequented ones - Kehena and Kiamu - though Kehena was popular with the nudists! Kiamu wasn't much of a beach - mostly a lot of lava formations and a tiny beach but nothing really to swim in. There were people swimming at the Kehena beach as well as a bunch of bongos being played. Picked up some vegan ice cream there which was quite nice.

Then we were off to the boat to see lava! This boat takes you quite close to the lava and we had to be at the meeting point by 430pm. After a quick pep talk about safety and getting wet, we boarded a metal boat which had a cover but open sides - similar to the boat ride in the Tasman sea with Bruny Island Cruises. The weather was actually very good and the seas calm so the ride wasn't as wild and bumpy as the Tasmania's, and also because the seas were calm we didn't get as wet. We had big spray jackets to keep us dry in Tasmania (supplied by the company) but because it was so warm in Hawaii, it doesn't matter if we get a bit wet, we didn't even feel cold! The kids enjoyed the ride - it was like being on a Disney ride.

The lava hitting the water made clouds of steam which could be seen from a distance.

And up close it was so impressive! And of course, it was so hot!

The guide took a bucket of water from the sea for us to feel the temperature, and it was as hot as a hot bath! We stayed there for almost 40 minutes taking photos before he took us back. Everyone was really impressed with the sight.

It was late so we had dinner at KFC - they had some different things to us, Nashville hot and Honey Mustard chicken. Time for a big sleep for a big day tomorrow!

Chicken Diaries - Updates on the new chickens and the rodent siutation

Well it's taken months but Princess Layer now hangs around with the other chickens, AND she started laying eggs in the middle of September. Tiny little eggs, mind you - smaller than when Cacciatore first started laying. I found the first one on the ground and since then she has been laying steadily, and in the coop.

Snowy is being broody again but I thought I would take advantage of her broodiness this time and get her to do some parenting, since I had a rooster fertilizing my eggs. I don't know for SURE if they are fertilized, having not seen a blastoderm in the eggs, but I'll assume that they are since he does his business a few times a day.

However, the crowing at 545 am was getting to me. Before the neighbours started complaining and I got nasty letters from the council, I decided to adopt him out to someone at work, whose father said he would take in my rooster.

So I took Luke down to the farm (he has a dairy farm) and there were plenty of ladies there to keep him busy, as well as only one rooster to compete with. So, I think he will be doing quite well there. The kids said their last goodbyes to him and they gave me the Spanish Inquisition treatment at the end of the day, asking about the farm he went to and whether they could visit.

As to my rodent situation...

After weeks of not catching a THING, I had left the trap empty and open with no food in it (peanut butter didn't work), there was something trapped in there last week. The worst part was that the rodent caught was NOT the one that I had seen running around the yard - this was a mouse. And it was dead - or so I thought. As I went to empty the cage it twitched, but when I put it on the ground to examine, the next door neigbour's dog had his nose to the fence and sniffed it, so I let him sniff it some more, then went to get a plastic bag to dispose of the mostly dead rodent, when ZHOOM! Out sprang a paw from under the fence, trapping the mouse, and then slowly dragging it back to his side of the fence. I was too surprised to stop him - who knew that big paw could get under that tiny bit of exposed fence!

I reset the trap, but did not expect that there would be a victim the next day! This time it was the rat that I had seen frequenting my yard, and unfortunately it was very much alive. I had to dispose of it, which seemed pointless after going to all the effort to trap it humanely. So we killed it and disposed of it and I reset the trap again. Hopefully there will be no more rodents, but there were 2 when I thought I had one, so no doubt there are more there... somewhere.

My first environmentally friendly car - and a splurge at that!

I have always wanted an electric car. I did look at the Nissan Leaf but the reviews were terrible, and when I asked my brother in law what I should get, he said a Tesla. Back then, I had no idea what Tesla was, except for being a SI unit of magnetic flux density (I'm thinking Back to the Future flux capacitors here!).

Fast forward 9 years and Tesla not only makes electric cars, but they make batteries that people use to store solar energy. I was more inspired to buy a Tesla after Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, pledged to help South Australia with their energy crisis by building the biggest lithium ion battery storage facility in the world - and he said that he would build it in 100 days or it would be free.

South Australia embraced renewable energy and has one of the highest mixes of wind and solar in the world. Because these renewable sources can be intermittent in power generation, at times of high power demand the system cannot cope with the demands for power leading to statewide blackouts and power outages.

It's a shame because I really support what South Australia did to go for renewable energy. However, the downside is that renewable energy is now viewed as being unreliable, poor output and that fossil fuel energy is a more reliable sources, leading to increased pressure to start new coal and nuclear power plants.

The technology that Tesla has for its cars is amazing. They are powerful, the batteries last reasonable distances and they really try to be cutting edge. The technology IS cutting edge, and the future should be built on these sorts of technologies - think iPods from discmans, mobile phones and satellite navigation. When the world sees that we WANT electric cars, and that there is a big demand for them (and that they're not 50kph cars that die when the sun goes down, but they con compare with the grunty petrol enginies) then others will follow suit.

Last year, I put a deposit to secure myself a Tesla 3, one of mass produced "cheaper" Teslas coming on the market. It was still not cheap by my standards, but I really wanted a Tesla to support the company. However, I lamented the loss of my slow, non powerful, 7 seater Nissan Dualis, that I love for it's utility and the kids also love the 7 seater.  They didn't want me to buy a new car, they wanted me to keep the Dualis forever.

But that changed 2 weeks ago.

I was out and about and I saw a Tesla X - which is the SUV Tesla, which retails at a whopping 150k. I was not even considering spending that ludicrous amount of money on a car. But, when I looked in the car, I saw that it had MORE than 5 seats. In fact, it could have 7 seats!

I was sold. All I wanted in a car was in the Tesla X. Electric. 7 seater. The ability to fold the seats down and be able to cart large items home from Ikea. Or fit a 65" television in the back.

So last Monday I test drove one. I am not used to powerful cars, and this was a very powerful car. 0 to 100kph in 5.2 seconds they say. I believe it, but it's not like I'll be doing that any time soon. I just want to get from A to B and not have to use petrol.

I love the 7 seats. I love the giant touch screen. I love the automated reverse parallel parking. This car will make me the laziest driver ever.

In terms of power and charging, Tesla has superchargers down the east coast on the way from Brisbane to Melbourne, with further extension into Adelaide. They are all set for us to cruise these long distannce drives between major cities. Superchargers can charge the car really rapidly - I think 20 minutes to get 200km - which is a quick trip to the toilet and a snack at McDonalds.

Safety features:
Front Impact Airbags for driver and passenger
Side airbags for front and rear seats
Knee airbags
Stability Control which senses when vehicle exceeds handling limits
ABS brakes
Battery in bottom of car to lower centre of gravity

There are even 4 anchors for baby seats!
The battery has a warranty of 8 years. The car has a 4 year/80000km warranty.

I'm so thrilled about the car that I can't wait for it to come now - expected delivery is late November. I don't mind if I have to wait longer. I just can't wait to just plug my car in to charge like my mobile phone and never have to lift a bowser again. The future can't get here fast enough!